HISD bond had backing of new group - older Anglos

Updated 11:17 pm, Tuesday, November 6, 2012

One of the political mailers that gave me the most pause was a large, slick, fold-out piece that told me to vote "no" on bonds for Houston schools, Houston Community College and the city of Houston.

The part that got me thinking wasn't the dramatic dollar figures, yellow-highlighted statistics of public education performance, or the cute little cartoon camel that was supposed to poke fun at HCC's campus in Qatar.

It was the image on the back - a delicate photo of a just-born baby, presumably a symbol of our future. The text at the bottom read: "It's not about you, it's about your children's and your grandchildren's future."

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"Of course it is,'' I thought, taking a very different message than the one that was intended.

The folks who paid for the mailer - Bruce Hotze's Let the People Vote, Houston - wanted me to focus on how much the debt would cost my children and grandchildren. But the message backfired. It made me think about how important it is to invest in the education of not only my children but all the children who will build the future of Houston.

It's good to know plenty of others in our city feel the same way. The $1.9 billion Houston Independent School District bond issue to build and renovate schools passed overwhelmingly Tuesday. So did the HCC and city of Houston bond issues.

Plenty of factors - including the high Harris County turnout, the fact that more voters made it to the bottom of the ballot, and the recent optimism of voters in a city that is naturally more optimistic than other places - may help explain the outcome.

Understand economy

But Rice University political science professor and pollster Bob Stein points to the bond's support among a group of voters long considered to be the hardest sell on bonds: older Anglos.

This group of voters is more likely to live on fixed income and own property for which they pay taxes, so, Stein says, "there's no question that older voters are, I guess you would call it, the least supportive."

Apparently not this time. Stein's exit polling during early voting showed that 54 percent of white voters over age 65 supported the HISD bond.

"I think you've got a new coalition of voters that are supporting this district, and they're not necessarily just parents and teachers," Stein told me Tuesday night after the results came in.

Older voters, Stein says, tend to be savvy and well-informed. They understand that their own property values can benefit from capital improvement projects at schools. But Stein says that his polling and interviews with voters also suggest they truly understand the region's economy and ability to compete in a global marketplace is tied to education.

Beyond their interests

There's a reason why voters - 85 percent of them with no children in HISD - would back a bond issue that doesn't directly affect them.

"Voters clearly think that voting for these bonds will advance an economic interest, and not just their own narrow pocketbook interests," Stein said.

The 68-year-old support services manager I met Tuesday would be one of those voters.

"All my kids are grown and gone, so it doesn't affect me personally in a positive way," said the Neartown resident who wanted to be identified only as J. Bell.

The woman, who was voting on her lunch hour at the West Gray Multi-Service Center, said she was supporting school bonds for the "future" and because today's children "deserve at least as good an education as what I had."

'Community spirit'

The Sundeens would agree. They were on their way into the polling place, he certain of Romney for president, she still on the fence about the presidential election, and a few other races.

"I think our education system has gone to pot, and if you ask me we really need to get back to basics. And I'm not really sure more money is the way to do it," said Kathleen Sundeen, who described herself as well over 80.

But she said she was leaning toward voting for the bond, out of "community spirit," she said with a chuckle.

I asked why she would support it if she wouldn't directly benefit, nor her children and grandchildren.

"I don't think you should focus on your personal self," she told me. "You've got to think of other people."